Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in delivering its alcohol strategy.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Good progress is being made in delivering the Plan for Action on alcohol problems . Key Executive action to date includes:

  Launch of a national communications strategy to target male and female binge drinkers.

  Additional funding for local alcohol action teams to build capacity for local delivery of the plan.

  Development of a national alcohol information resource to benefit those who plan and provide alcohol problems services.

  Appointment of national alcohol liaison officer to support the work of local alcohol action teams.

  Publication of an alcohol problems support and treatment services framework to help local areas assess needs and plan to meet these needs.

  Guidance for alcohol action teams on what should be included in local alcohol action plans.

Alcohol Misuse

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in achieving the targets for (a) reducing drinking alcohol by young people, (b) binge drinking and (c) mortality from alcohol.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Young people's drinking is increasing. In the latest survey 23% of 13-year-olds and 46% of 15-year-olds reported that they had drunk alcohol in the previous week. This upward trend is very worrying and reducing harmful drinking by children and young people is one of the key priorities of the Plan for Action on alcohol problems.

  There are currently no targets for reducing binge drinking and alcohol-related deaths.

Alcohol Misuse

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to set targets for reducing morbidity caused by excess alcohol consumption.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: We have no plans at present to set targets to reduce alcohol-related deaths but we say in Plan for Action on alcohol problems that we want to see the current upward trend reversed over time.

Children in Care

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authority residential care places there currently are for children.

Cathy Jamieson: The number of residential childcare places at 31 March 2001 is given, along with a range of other statistics in the publication Children in Residential Accommodation 2000-2001 available from the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 24055).

Children in Care

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many foster placements on average children in foster care have during their time in foster care.

Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not held centrally.

Compulsory Purchase

Mr Alasdair Morrison (Western Isles) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the power to advance well-being in the Local Government in Scotland Bill will confer a power of compulsory purchase or otherwise affect existing powers of compulsory purchase.

Peter Peacock: The power to advance well-being in the Local Government in Scotland Bill will be an important enabling tool for local authorities to do anything they consider is likely to promote or improve the well-being of their communities. A local authority may use the power to advance well-being in conjunction with section 71 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as an additional means to consider compulsory purchase of land. Existing powers of compulsory purchase will not be affected.

Crime

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the homicide victims shown as being the partner of the main accused in Homicides in Scotland Statistics 2001 were (a) women and (b) men and what the sex of the main accused was in each case.

Hugh Henry: Of the 14 homicide victims in 2001, where the main accused was known to be a partner of the accused, 12 were female and two were male. The main accused of the 12 female killings were all male. The main accused of one of the male killings was male and the other was female.

Electoral Register

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is in place regarding public access to the December 2002 electoral register.

Peter Peacock: Matters relating to electoral registration are reserved and for the Electoral Commission who are responsible for issuing such guidance.

Enterprise

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is the policy of Scottish Enterprise to attempt, where possible, to resolve disputes by means of mediation, rather than litigation, and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is the policy of Scottish Enterprise (SE) not to consider giving any assistance to, or hold any discussions about assistance with, any party with which SE is in litigation about matters unrelated to such assistance and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Iain Gray: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.

Health

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources are being made available to the NHS specifically for treatment and prevention of chronic liver failure resulting from hepatitis C infection.

Malcolm Chisholm: Subject to national priorities and Health Department guidance, it is for NHS boards to assess the needs of their local populations, including those who suffer from chronic liver failure, and to allocate their considerable resources to provide services to meet those needs. The Health Department has, however, been in discussion with relevant Scottish clinicians and the voluntary sector about the development of regional Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) for the treatment of patients with hepatitis C. In the near future I expect the clinicians to submit an application to the department for funding to initiate the establishment of such MCNs.

  The Executive currently provides £8.1 million to NHS boards across Scotland to assist them in their work to prevent the spread of all bloodborne viruses, including hepatitis C.

  On 4 July last year, the Health Department staged a conference to highlight and discuss the long-term issues around care and service delivery for those affected by hepatitis C. At the conference, a new hepatitis C information pack for professionals and a leaflet for patients was launched. This information provides helpful and accurate advice on hepatitis C and clarifies certain issues, which are often misunderstood.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31954 by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 December 2002, to whom the lead clinician of the managed clinical network will be accountable.

Malcolm Chisholm: As is made clear in Appendix 3 to Health Department Letter (2002) 69 Promoting the Development of Managed Clinical Networks in NHSScotland , lead clinicians of managed clinical networks are ultimately accountable to the chief executive of the organisation which employs them. Each network must have a protocol in place dealing with this and other clinical governance arrangements.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS patients can be referred to a chiropractor and whether any chiropractors are employed by the NHS.

Malcolm Chisholm: GPs do not usually refer patients directly to a chiropractor, although there may be some local arrangements in place for NHS referral. GPs can advise patients about seeing a chiropractor, and provide information about registered practitioners, after discussion about the management options of their condition. It is for the patient to decide whether they wish to pay for chiropractic treatment or be referred, for example, to physiotherapy services.

  Information on chiropractors employed by the NHS is not held centrally.

Higher Education

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it receives from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Iain Gray: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects information annually from each higher education institution (HEI) in the UK (including teacher training courses). The Scottish Executive receives the information collected from HEIs, via HESA, in respect of students, graduate destinations, staff and finance.

  Details of the information collected by HESA can be obtained on their website:

  http://www.hesa.ac.uk/.

Higher and Further Education

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent (FTE) students there have been on average for each FTE counsellor in higher and further education institutions in each year since 1995 and from what source it obtained this information.

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what higher and further education institutions operated a waiting list for counselling services in each year since 1995 and from what source it obtained this information.

Iain Gray: The information requested is not held centrally.

Holyrood Project

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-2748 by Mr Tom McCabe on 11 January 2001, whether it is still its position that there is no need to make representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding disciplinary action against the Permanent Secretary in relation to any adverse impact of his actions on the Holyrood project.

Mr Andy Kerr: The position remains the same.

Human Rights Commission

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21417 by Mr Jim Wallace on 18 January 2002 and to its news release SE5006/2001 on 10 December 2001, what the timetable is for the creation of a human rights commission; how many commissioners will be appointed; whether any progress has been made in setting out the commission's relationship with the (a) Equal Opportunities Commission, (b) Commission for Racial Equality and (c) Disability Rights Commission; how many posts are to be created in the commission, and where it will be located.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive will issue a detailed consultation paper on the proposed Scottish Human Rights Commission in February 2003. This paper will look at the proposed key functions and issues such as accountability, accessibility, membership, location and relationship with other bodies.

Licensing

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the review by the independent committee on liquor licensing will be completed and when the report of the review will be published.

Hugh Henry: It is expected the review will be completed early in 2003. A decision on the timing of publication will be taken when ministers have seen the report.

Rail Network

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on (a) expenditure incurred by and (b) costs paid to First Engineering in respect of work on rail in Scotland in each year since 1997.

Lewis Macdonald: First Engineering is a private sector company. As such this information is commercial-in-confidence and is not held centrally.

Shipbuilding

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when a meeting last took place with Her Majesty’s Government to discuss the present and future circumstances of the shipbuilding industry and what decisions were reached at any such meeting.

Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive and the UK Government meet regularly to discuss issues relating to the shipbuilding industry. My officials last met UK Government officials on 2 December 2002 at the meeting of the Clyde Shipyards Task Force held to monitor progress on the report’s recommendations.

Social Inclusion

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-32216 by Iain Gray on 13 December 2002, how many clients of the Dumbarton and Lomond Inclusiveness Project are resident at addresses in the East Dunbartonshire Council area.

Iain Gray: Twenty clients, resident in the East Dunbartonshire Council area, are receiving Key Worker support (as at December 2002).

  Forty-three East Dunbartonshire young people are engaged in an On-Track programme.